


Fight For Freedom

by Mane



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angry!Eren, Angst, Bully!Jean, Bullying, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Jealous!Levi, M/M, multi-chapter fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2014-09-14
Packaged: 2018-02-17 07:47:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2302037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mane/pseuds/Mane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>University AU. </p><p>Eren is a freshman in college, and isn't exactly doing well. His grades are average, he's passing all is classes, so what's wrong? Maybe the fact that a certain Horse-faced jerk is his constant reminder that he is a failure in life.<br/>One day, after a stressful class, Jean decides to beat him harder than before, and it's a certain raven-haired senior that decides to stand up and help him.</p><p>*Discontinued*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Late to Class

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, a new fic! And it's multi-chapter!  
> Yep, second post on here, and it's going to be longer! I hope you guys enjoy it! Updates will be every weekend!

It consumed him, the burning hatred he felt ablaze deep inside him, directed directly at the source sitting down in the only seat left, a smug grin on the face of the enemy. Eren clenched his jaw in weak attempt to hold back the anger fueling his inner fire, fist tightened into a ball hard enough for his callused knuckles to turn white. He wasn’t going to do anything, not in the class in front of his professor, at least, because that’s exactly what that horse-faced bastard wanted him to do. Jean wanted Eren to lash out in front of everyone, to show how reckless and impulsive he really was. His closest friends knew his temper was short, and he was extremely impulsive, but he wasn’t about to make a fool of himself in the middle of the lecture room, no less the head professor of the school.

“Jaeger, you’re late. The bell rang 2 minutes ago,” his strict professor called him out, darkened eyes glaring heavily at him. “You understand that I do not tolerate tardiness, don’t you?” Those sunken, dark grey eyes never left his tense figure, daring him to speak out against his words.

Eren huffed a silent sigh, shoulders dropping as he just let his anger go, fist unclenching and jaw releasing with the single breath. “Yes sir, I understand,” he murmured, never dropping his gaze from Professor Keith. For some reason, the university teacher wanted his students to call him by his first name, but only with his title before. He wasn’t about to argue with the man, because it would be pointless, either ending up in detention or being kicked out of class for the rest of the semester, and it cost too much money for him to be missing any classes. If he just went along with Professor Keith, then the worst that could happen would be him kicked out for the day, and pick up at the next lecture later in the week.

“Then you understand that I will not put up with any of your excuses. Next time you’re late to my class, that door will be locked to you.” He paused, his tone and expression stating clear as day that the situation was to no longer be discussed. “Now, since you are here, and it appears you usual seat was taken,” Eren directed a glare at Jean, “there is an empty seat next to Levi where you can sit.” With that, Keith retreated to the front of the room, ready to begin his lesson.

Eren’s heart dropped into his stomach, a shiver of fear running up his spine. If it came down between Jean and Levi, well, he’d much rather deal with Jean and his shit he had to put up with. Levi, from what he had heard from the rumors, was much, much worse. Despite his short stature and bored, monotone expression, the raven was one of the most ruthless guys on campus. And that was saying a lot, considering there were martial arts clubs, a wrestling club, and an equivalent of 8,000 students on campus. The rumors stated that he once beat up 6 guys singlehandedly, and the guys were nearly twice as big as he was, standing easily at 6’5”. Stories told that the fight emerged with Levi victorious, obviously, with no scratches whatsoever, and three of the 6 guys were sent to the hospital, one on the brink of death. The other three quickly fled the fight, limping extremely heavily, leaving trails of blood drips behind. 

Deciding that it was better to not stall, not wanting Keith to get upset any more, he made his way down further to the front of the class, and tentatively sat down next to the stoic as ever raven. He set down his laptop carefully as possible, not wanting to make a racket that would more than likely annoy the shorter being, and sat stiffly in the only empty chair left in the room. Sitting as still as possible, Eren tried to listen to his professor’s teachings, really, but just the mere thought of Levi sitting just to his right set him on edge. Obviously, his stiffness was much more noticeable than he thought, because the low, smooth voice that spoke up next to him told him exactly so.

“Oi, there’s no need to shit your pants, brat. I won’t bite,” Levi drawled out, a bit of annoyance biting into his low murmur. “So calm yourself.” Yeah, because that would calm anyone down instantly. Deciding to clamp his mouth shut from replying, he took a deep, albeit shaky, breath and allowed himself to slump down further into the hard plastic he sat on, glancing out of the corner of his teal eyes at the other male, only to quickly avert them when the pastel green clashed with steel grey. He caught the small quirk of his pale lips, the raven smirking at the brunet. Eren paid no more attention to the raven, instead opting to give his full attention to the lesson. 

-X-

When class was dismissed, Eren shot out of his chair faster than a bullet out of a rifle, to get away from the menacing male he had been seated next to and to also find the dickhead who thought it would be funny to take his usual seat. Jean and Eren fought a lot, and usually Eren got his ass handed to him on a silver platter, but he wasn’t going to allow the other male to get away with the stunt he pulled without consequence.

Apparently, Jean was expecting him to do something, so he was prepared when the angry brunet suddenly appeared next to him outside with a fist swinging at his face. Jean quickly stepped out of the way, and Eren stumbled when his fist only found air, tripping over his own feet and loosing balance. Jean quickly took advantage of Eren’s state, swinging a leg against the back of the brunet’s knees and sending him face first into the grass. A smug laugh found its way through his throat, chuckling at the weaker male who was struggling to get back to his feet, and harshly stamps his foot on his back to keep him down.

“What’s the matter Jaeger? Too weak to push me off?” Another chuckle followed the first. “You’re just as pathetic as your mother. You’re the whole reason she was gunned down, you know, because you were too weak to save her.” Again, a chuckle escaped, finding amusement in the tears that gathered in Eren’s eyes. 

Eren struggled even harder, screaming several profanities at the larger male holding him down. Tears began to stream down his dirtied face as he looked up in pure hatred. He already knew that he wasn’t strong enough to help her, and that’s why his father disowned him but he didn’t need the constant reminder from Jean. It only pained him further as he imagined his mother’s face as the gun sounded, bullet ripping a hole in her heart and stopping it immediately. He fought off the memories, desperately clawing at the grass beneath his palms to shove the other off of him, to rip into his horse face like he desperately wanted to, no matter how impossible it really was. 

Jean eased his foot off of Eren’s back, instead opting to reach down and grasp him by the hair, tugging him to his feet and delivering a painful blow to his nose, blood appearing and slipping down his nose at a rather rapid pace. Eren cried out in pain, desperately swinging his fists, hoping to connect to something. He lamely struck Jean in the shoulder once, but that wasn’t nearly enough to make Jean flinch. Instead, Jean just hit him again, this time, nailing him in the jaw, and threw him harshly to the ground, beginning to kick him several times in his abdominal area. He struck him in the stomach several times, and kicked him hard in his ribs, a smirk drawing across his face as he heard that tell-tale sickening crunch of bones when one particular kick connected, and a loud cry ripped out of the brunet’s lungs. Eren didn’t understand why Jean was being so harsh today, and he didn’t show any signs of letting up soon. Instead, he endured most kicks, ignoring the throbbing in his side, shutting his eyes tight ad praying to whatever deity there was that he would soon stop.

Suddenly, the kicks just stopped, as did the hits, and for a few moments Eren wondered if Jean just gave up, but the voice that followed sent both a shiver of fear and gratefulness through his throbbing body.

“Hey, shit-face, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” Levi’s monotone voice reached Eren’s ears, drawing his eyes open to glance up. Sure enough, Levi stood there, with one hand twisted in Jean’s shirt, one of his signature glares directed into Jean’s eyes. The height difference was almost comical, but no one dared to even look amused when it was obvious that Levi was pissed. When Levi was pissed, someone was going to get hurt, and his target seemed to be Jean at the moment. Said horse-face looked ready to pee himself in fear, that smug grin wiped off of his face and replaced with one of fear, not able to respond to the raven’s question., or say anything at all. 

Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance, rolling his cold, hard eyes at Jean’s behavior. “Get lost, I don’t want to see you here again, scum,” the raven said in a rather bored tone, untwisting his hand from his shirt and shoving him away. Jean stumbled slightly before he quickly righted himself and took off, running quickly and not sparing a glance back at Eren.

Eren, on the other hand, was struggling to sit up, the pain in his abdomen shooting up his spine and stopping him effectively. He grit his teeth, trying to fight through the pain, but it proved to be too much for him as he tried to move again, a groan escaping him. A hand entered his line of vision, and he flinched back against his will, expecting another strike. When he felt nothing, he looked at the hand again, which hadn’t moved, and he traced his sight up the arm to find it belonged to Levi, who looked down at him with a rather unreadable expression though it was much softer than the glare directed at Jean earlier.

“Well? I told you I don’t bite,” Levi spoke, gently gesturing his hand in an impatient manner. Eren tentatively grasped the hand in his own, and Levi hauled him to his feet, gentler than expected, but a wave of pain still shot through him. A groan followed, from the brunet, and an exasperated huff escaped the raven. “Gosh, you’re a complete mess,” he murmured under his breath. Taking the brunet’s hand he still held, he gently threw Eren’s arm over his shoulder and wrapped his free arm around his waist. “C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Eren was too in shock to fully comprehend the situation, instead just going along with it and focusing on keeping himself upright best he could. His head was muddled due to the pain that overtook most of his senses, leaving him in a fuzzy state of mind. He didn’t want to pass out here, as that would only make it harder for the both of them, and so tried desperately to clear his vision. A few times he tripped over his feet, but was quick to correct himself and carry on.

-X-

When Eren came to, he realized two things: one, he had passed out at some point, and two, he was not in his dorm. He actually had no idea where he was, and when he sat up and looked around, the dizzying pain suddenly swept through him, a groan following. Suddenly, a figure was in front of him, a gentle hand steadying him and another setting a cool glass of water in his hand. He took a small sip, enough to wet his dried mouth, and his vision slowly cleared, revealing a concerned looking Levi in front of him. Wait, concerned? The raven hardly ever showed emotion except annoyance and anger, and he barely even knew Eren, so why would he be concerned. 

“Levi?” his voice cracked slightly, either from disuse or the cries he had released during the fight, he didn’t exactly know, and it was filled with complete surprise. “Where am I?”

Levi opted to stay silent for a moment, instead placing a few pills in Eren’s hand, pain killers, obviously, and Eren took his silence as a command. He quickly downed the pills, taking another drink of water, before looking at the raven expectantly. His question still hung in the air.

“My apartment,” Levi answered. “I have no idea where you stay at, and it was closer than any of the dorms, so it was the only place I could think to bring you. You passed out when I was trying to unlock the door, so I had to drag you in here. You’re a lot heavier than you seem.” Eren blushed in embarrassment, averting his eyes to look at the floor. “I also had to reset your nose, it was broken.” 

Eren looked back up at Levi, a shimmer of gratefulness in his eyes. “Thank you. For helping me, I mean. I don’t know why he wouldn’t let up. Usually he just hits me a few times, insults me, and then leaves. He’s never actually beaten me to the point of passing out.” His voice grew timid as he explained. 

A look of slight anger filled Levi’s eyes. “You mean, this isn’t the first time he’s beaten you?” His voice was a low growl, though his anger wasn’t directed at Eren. 

Eren shook his head meekly. “No, I’ve known Jean since high school, so fights between us are regular.”

Levi allowed a low growl to escape again. “Eren, don’t let him do this to you. You’re much stronger than that, and I’m not one to offer my assistance to, but I will personally take care of him if he ever thinks about laying a hand on you again.”

Eren felt something warm up inside him. Someone cares about him? Someone other than Mikasa and Armin? Speaking of Mikasa and Armin, they were probably wondering where he was, but with Levi looking so concerned for him, he couldn’t really pay any mind to his sister and friend. He gave a nod to the raven, a small smile spreading across his face. “Thank you, Levi. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Levi gave a nod, and Eren could’ve sworn that there was a shadow of a smile on his face.


	2. The Dorm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren gets back to his dorm, and Mikasa isn't happy with the new presence he's acquired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo, another chapter! I'm surprised I churned another one out today! I can't update during the weeks, because I don't have a computer, but I can read all of your comments from my iPod though! I'm super happy to see that so many people have liked it so far! 
> 
> I haven't edited any of the chapters, so I'm sorry if there are any typos!

“God, your dorm is an absolute mess,” Levi quipped, a scowl on his thinly pressed lips, a look of disgust in his eyes. “Don’t you know how to clean?”

True, Eren will admit that his dorm room was a bit on the messy side, what with him being a college freshman and not having to share a dorm room with anyone tends to lead to the endless piles of dirty clothes over the floor and the absence of a proper trash can. There were several shirts on the bed, all either inside-out or wrinkled beyond help, and old wrappers from Ramen packages littered the floor. Eren gave a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I never really get the time to clean? What with projects always due and piles of homework every night, there’s really no such thing as free time.” Eren traveled further into his room, kicking the laundry away to form a path through the messy dorm. Levi shook his head, hands reaching upwards to rub at his temples in hopes to fight off the forming headache. 

“Jesus, kid, I remember being a freshman, but I was never this dirty. There’s always time on the weekends to take at least 15 minutes to tidy up,” he muttered. “This is just ridiculous. Honestly.”

“Well, I’m not really that organized of a person. Mikasa would always get on to me about not cleaning up, but if I do clean up, then I lose track of where everything is.” Eren bent down onto his knees, not able to bend down normally, due to his broken and bruised ribs, and began to gather up shirts and pants into his arms, wincing a few times when he moved the wrong way and accidentally aggravating his injuries further. Levi didn’t miss this when they happened. 

“Hey, take it easy. Don’t hurt yourself more than you already are. I’ll clean up, you go and rest.” With that, Levi took the clothes from Eren’s arms, despite the brunet’s protests, and placed them into a neat pile, before moving to help the injured to his feet. A grunt passed Eren’s lips, but said nothing more as Levi guided him over to sit on his bed. “Just sit here and let me clean. Don’t even think about getting up.”

Eren grumbled something under his breath, a small pout on his lips, but made no move to get up or protest against the raven’s orders. Instead, he opted to grab his phone, which he had left off in his dorm, and turned it on, preparing himself for the multiple missed calls and texts from Mikasa and Armin. When his phone finally powered up, he was greeted with 24 new texts and 15 missed calls, almost all of them from Mikasa. He cursed out loud, knowing that Mikasa would pissed off at him for not having his phone on him.

Dialing her number, he held the phone up to his ear, holding his breath as he prepared himself for her scolding. He glanced over at Levi, who was watching him with confused eyes. Eren gave a small shake of his head, rolling his eyes just as Mikasa answered.

“Where the hell were you? Why haven’t you answered any of my calls? Why aren’t you at your dorm? Has someone kidnapped you?” The questions flooded through the other line, leaving him no room to even formulate an answer before she moved on to the next one. One thing he didn’t like about Mikasa was that she basically took over as the mother of the house when Carla died, always worrying over Eren like he was a breakable china doll. Eren only sighed, which stopped Mikasa’s rain of questions momentarily. 

“I didn’t have my phone because I was going to class, and afterwards, well, Jean and I kinda got into a fight…” Eren trailed off, subconsciously reaching to press gently against his side, trailing over the uneven flesh and wincing silently. “I’m fine now, but Jean was a lot worse this time around.”

“That doesn’t explain to me why you weren’t at your dorm when I came to check,” Mikasa sounded less angry and more sympathetic than before, but her voice still held that authoritative tone that an upset mother always had. She knew how bad things were with Jean, so she held sympathy for him, but she was just so overprotective that her sympathy was also as smothering as her anger. 

“I wasn’t at my dorm because I couldn’t make it. Someone had to help me to their apartment instead, until I was well enough to move on my own,” Eren answered, glancing over at Levi again. This time, Levi wasn’t paying him any attention, just gathering his clothes and placing them into the laundry basket Eren had been provided with. The trash that had been lying around was nowhere to be seen, except now in the overflowing trashcan. ‘Wow, he works fast,’ Eren thought, before directing his attention to his sister’s words on the other line.

“Who was it? Where was their apartment? Why didn’t you borrow a phone to call me to come get you?” Mikasa began to ramble off questions again, and Eren shook his head in a disbelieving manner.

“If you’d listen for just a moment, I can explain everything to you.” When he received no words, he continued. “Levi was the one who helped me. His apartment was closer than my dorm was, and he didn’t know exactly where my dorm was, either. I couldn’t tell him, because I passed out.”

Mikasa exploded. “What!? You passed out? Jean beat you until you passed out? Wait, Levi? You mean the infamous thug Levi? Why would he help you? Why would he help anyone? You are talking about the short midg-“

“Mikasa!” Eren cut her off, raising his voice slightly. “Just shut up and quit interrupting me!” Silence fell again, signaling that she was going to be quiet for now. “Now, as I was explaining, I was too weak to make it back to my dorm, and I passed out also, so Levi took me to his apartment. When I woke up, he gave me some pain killers and brought me back to my dorm, so quit worrying about me.”

Mikasa was quiet for about two more seconds, before she quickly said, “I’m coming over,” and abruptly hung up. Eren stared at his phone for a few seconds, before cursing, causing Levi to look up at him.

“Is everything alright?” he asked, dropping the now completely filled basket of clothes onto the floor beside the bed, deciding to sit down in front of the brunet. “What’s up?”

“She’s on her way over here, and if she sees me in this state she won’t leave,” he complained in alarm, before realizing something else. “Shit, if she sees you here, she’ll try to blame it all on you and more than likely try of fight you.” Eren groaned, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. “I can’t stand it when she goes into protective mode. She gets bossy and annoying, and tries to act like me mother.”

Levi hummed in understanding. “Then I’ll just have to explain everything to her, won’t I?” He glanced around the room. “At least your room is clean now.”

Eren couldn’t help but let a weak chuckle pass. “Yeah, thanks for that,” he said with a smile.

-X-

It wasn’t two minutes later that a knock sounded on the door and Mikasa let herself into the room, not bothering to see if Eren was naked or not. When she was in her mother state, she didn’t let anything stop her from protecting Eren. Well, except maybe the fact there was another man sitting beside a rather shirtless Eren, gently running his hands down his sides.

Eren jumped when Mikasa suddenly entered the room, a blush flushing his cheeks a bright red color as he scrambled for his shirt, trying to hide his body. “Mikasa! What have I said about knocking several times before entering?”

The raven girl narrowed her gaze, hardened eyes boring right into an impassive Levi, who hadn’t moved an inch except for dropping his hands. Her fists clenched up, the sudden urge to hit the other male coursing through her veins. “Who the fuck are you and why are you feeling up on my brother?”

Eren groaned, having anticipated her reactions. “Mikasa, this is Levi. Levi this is my overprotective sister, Mikasa.” He paused looking upwards at the female. “And to answer your question, he was not ‘feeling up’ on me, he was just checking my ribs. I nearly fell off the bed and might’ve moved them.”

Apparently, that answer didn’t help to calm Mikasa down, either. “What? Your ribs are broken? Why didn’t you tell me? You should’ve just come and got me before Jean tried to fight you, otherwise you wouldn’t be in this state.’

“I had it all under contro-“ Eren began, but was interrupted by a certain raven male.

“It’s not like he had the time to come get you. Horse face had him on the ground before the fight even started. He’s lucky I don’t like to see pointless fights, and stopped the fight before that bastard sent him to the hospital. Geez,” he said, turning his attention towards Eren, “you’d think your sister would be glad that I took you home and patched you up. Instead,” he directed a glare towards Mikasa, “she seems ungrateful that someone actually decided to help you out of that situation, before it got worse.”

“It seems to me you weren’t fast enough, because he still ended up with a broken rib, she growled back, also glaring at Levi. “Did you even think about taking him to the hospital?” 

Levi shrugged impassively. “He didn’t need it, plus I’ve had plenty of experience in fights to know how to handle injuries. He may have broken a rib and his nose, but that’s something I can do without the work of a hospital, so why bother?”

Hearing that Eren also broke his nose triggered something in Mikasa, and Eren could see she was about to do something. Instead, he jumped in between the two, trying to tone down the angry tension in the air. “What’s done is done, and I’m fine now, so there’s no need for a hospital or anything of that sort.” He tossed a glare at Mikasa. “I feel touched that you care about my well-being, but I don’t need your motherly attitude or your help, so you can go back to the girls’ dorms now.”

Mikasa looked a bit offended by Eren’s words, but sighed nonetheless, giving in to him. “Fine, just, call me if you need anything. You know I’ll be right over.” She looked back at Levi, gaze hardening into another glare. “Lay your hands on my brother again, and you’ll deal with me personally.” With that, she walked over to Eren, gave him a careful hug and small peck on his forehead, before turning back and walking out of the dorm, but not before glaring at Levi once more.

Levi let out a snort once the door was closed. “She seems like a nice person,” he remarked, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Makes me want to take her to prom, she seems like the life of the party.”

Eren huffed out a sigh, gently punching Levi in the shoulder playfully. “She’s actually not that bad, she just sometimes gets into these moods, like when someone bullies me, or her and her girlfriend gets into an argument.” He paused, a small smile spreading on his face. “She may be my sister, but she’s also my friend.”

Levi watched Eren for a moment in silence, eyes scanning over his slightly bruised face, before rolling his eyes. “You’re such a sap. Give me your phone.”

Eren looked over at him a confused look falling across his face. “Um, why?” Nonetheless, he grabbed his phone and unlocked it, placing it into Levi’s outstretched hand.

Levi punched in a few things, before handing it back. “It’s so that you have my number. You know, in case you need to call or text me about something.” He paused, considering his words. “Although, don’t call or text me for no reason at all, I hate pointless texts.”

Eren felt his heart skip a beat, for an unknown reason. “Um, thanks, Levi. Really, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

Levi rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue in annoyance. “Yeah, yeah, I saved your life, you are eternally grateful, I know how it goes.” Though he appeared annoyed, his eyes held lightness to them, almost as if he were smiling on the inside. “Just don’t kill yourself by accident when I’m not around.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feedback is always appreciated! Leave a comment and kudo if you wish!!

**Author's Note:**

> I love to hear feedback, so leave comments and kudos if you'd like!!


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